btw, I took your advice and watched Onsen Suppon Geisha (1972). Not exactly my type of film but I enjoyed it. Silly but fun, high WTF factor, lots of cameos. Since it was a double feature I decided to stay for Onsen Mimizu Geisha (1971) as well, which was weaker but still ok. It was fun to see Reiko Ike acting almost like an idol and running topless on the beach. I recall there being a rumor she was underage when they filmed it, but I'm not sure if it's true. Looking at the dates, they had a few week windown to film and get it ready, which by the standard of that era could just be enough. If she was underage, we're talking about weeks or days.

What made the double feature pretty awesome was the theater. I had not been to Shin Bungeiza before so I wasn't expecting a 10 metre screen!!! What a pleasure seeing early 70's smut on a screen of that size! And not only that, the theater was completely packed! 266 seats I could count the empty seats with my fingers minutes before the film started! It probably had something to do with screenwriter Masahiro Kakefuda talk event being held after Onsen Mimizu Geisha, but still! Unfortunately I didn't have time to stay for that.

Here's a picture of the theater, taken on the previous night when there was far less audience:

On that day I watched Dolls of the Shogun's Harem (1986) and Ninja's Mark (1968). I need to write more about Ninja's Mark later when I have time. Let's just say it has a scene where a ninja turns a woman into a fish while she's having sex...

Yes, there is a SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST (聖獣学園, 1974) manga. Originally I assumed that this must have been another case where a manga was filmed but then I noticed that Norifumi Suzuki gets credit for the text right there on the cover and there are some stills of the movie included in the book as well:

So, unless I'm mistaken, the manga came after the movie - as a tie-in?

Seems like the manga came out sometime in 1973, while the movie was February 1974. However, I would guess that they were produced more or less simultaneously, and were more or less based on (or at least influenced by) by each other. The text under Takigawa's picture is a bit ambiguous but it kinda makes it sound like the movie was probably the main product, or the initiating production, even though the manga was published before.

I haven't seen the film but I will probably pick up the US DVD when it comes out as the plot sounds at least a bit interesting and I'm itching to support Synapse in the wake of their recent acquisitions. I'm not a fan of Katsuhiko Fujii either and unlike you I can't even claim to have yet seen a film of his that wasn't utterly mediocre and forgettable. The very definition of a hack director, I'm afraid.

Warning: Hung's probably going to anger a whole lot of people again by bashing their beloved junk. Remember, the more sex it has, the faster I'm going to fall asleep.

Women In Heat Behind Bars (Japan, 1987) [VoD] - 1/5Not much to write about here. I usually give even bad movies a chance to impress me by paying attention at least for the first third, but this one I could barely get through the first five minutes without resorting to fast forward. It's a women in prison movie with almost nothing but sex. It was filmed on 35mm for being a Roman Porno, but it feels much more like a 1990s shot-on-video cheapo. Horrible, just horrible.

Captured for Sex 2 (Japan, 1986) [VoD] - 1/5A young couple's car breaks down in the middle of a forest. A nice man comes for rescue and takes them to his house, but for this being a pink production he of course turns out to be a manic kidnapper with a taste for sexual torture. This is a minor cult classic of sorts, for reasons that go beyond my understanding. It's little more than a violent porn film with non-existent cinematic merits, a sort of sexual version of the Guinea Pig series but without the humour, scares, or the special effects. It does , however, sport a somehow nostalgic 1980s smut feel to it. That doesn't help much when the film is an utter bore. Released in Nikkatsu's Roman X series, which was a short lived hardcore spin-off of the Roman Porno series.

Pink Hip Girls: Slinking Classmates (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 1/5Director Koyu Ohara tries to revive the magic of his Pink Hip Girl trilogy in this unrelated but similarly titled and themed film. Unfortunately, it's a miserable attempt. The Pink Hip Girl films were energetic road movies and cute youth flicks with strong pop-art flavour despite being produced in the Roman Porno genre; this on the other hand is a tiresome city movie following four young girls making money with sex and trying to help an impotent young man become a rock-star. There's an abundance of sex, a lack of charming actresses, no striking visuals, and only a small amount of pop music. The film is not necessarily among the worst in the genre, but it is tiresome.

Never in the Morning (Japan, 1980) [VoD] - 1.5/5Talented director Kichitaro Negishi is slacking here. This is a standard sex drama/comedy with a weak satirical bite that doesn't make the film much more interesting. It's about a woman who is working for an underwear company and sleeping with his boss every now and then. None of the bursting energy and style of Negishi's earlier films From Orion's Testimony: Formula for Murder (1979 and Rape Ceremory (1980) can be found here.

I Can Feel It (Japan, 1976) [VoD] - 1/5Here's an early attempt at Koyu Ohara style perky youth cinema within the pink genre. Unfortunately director Shin'ichi Shiratori wasn't up to the challenge. There's a decent attempt at spicing things up with pop music, but the poor writing and underwhelming performances undo the effect. There is no reason to care about any of the characters, including newcomer Jun Izumi, who didn't have the charm required to play a lovely virgin girl. In the end, the film is little more than a standard sex comedy.

Sweet Scent of Eros (Japan, 1973) [VoD] - 2/5Toshiya Fujita was one of the Nikkatsu directors who often used the Roman Porno genre to make arthouse films. Here he teams up with screenwriter Atsushi Yamatoya to deliver a character piece set almost entirely in one room. The film follows a mysterious photographer who decides to make himself home at a random woman's house. Next, her two friends who up, and they all decide to live together. What follows is lots of chatter, out-of-the-blue suicide attempt, random surrealism, and a graphic pig slaughter that is supposed to make some kind of intellectual point. The cool guitar riffs are the film's most entertaining aspect. Otherwise it feels a bit pretentious, and far from Fujita's best efforts.

Delicate Skillful Fingers (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 4/5This debut feature by Tooru Murakawa apparently almost killed his career by setting the standard too high. The storyline, penned by Tatsumi Kumashiro, follows an innocent girl on the streets of Tokyo. She falls for a pickpocket who is soon arrested and never seen again. The guy's friend (cult rocker / actor Ichiro Araki) then takes his place and teaches her into the business. It's basically a bit old fashioned morality tale, but directed with a stunning level of cool. Murakawa does excellent job capturing the spirit of the era and the soundtrack is a standout. Much of the movie was filmed on the streets of Shinkuku, which also gives it a fresh feel compared to most other Roman Pornos. Indeed, upon its release it was praised as sensational leap from sex cinema to respectable youth cinema. The fame seems to have been too much for Murakawa, who quit two movies later. His career, however, was resurrected in the late 1970s when he begun to helm (mostly mediocre) Yusaku Matsuda action pics for Toei.

Note: this one is also available on recent remastered DVD from Happinet

HungFist wrote:Captured for Sex 2 (Japan, 1986) [VoD] - 1/5A young couple's car breaks down in the middle of a forest. A nice man comes for rescue and takes them to his house, but for this being a pink production he of course turns out to be a manic kidnapper with a taste for sexual torture. This is a minor cult classic of sorts, for reasons that go beyond my understanding. It's little more than a violent porn film with non-existent cinematic merits, a sort of sexual version of the Guinea Pig series but without the humour, scares, or the special effects. It does , however, sport a somehow nostalgic 1980s smut feel to it. That doesn't help much when the film is an utter bore. Released in Nikkatsu's Roman X series, which was a short lived hardcore spin-off of the Roman Porno series.

Is there any sort of appreciation for this film in Japan or did you mean it's a "cult classic" only among Western pink fans? The film is shit, just like all the other Roman X efforts from the director collective working as "Gou Ijuin": Za Ikenie, Za SM, Za Goumon... Unfortunately I once thought the painted covers (same artist who also did the poster for Yoshihiro Kawasaki's Binzume Jigoku (1986) I think) on the VHS tapes looked promising and bought a couple of them which lead to some serious self-loathiung when I sat down to watch them. I think the only part of all of them I enjoyed was a scene in which a naked women is tied to the roof of a car and driven through some side streets, to the baffled looks of pedestrians. The only explanation for any kind of "cult" status I can come up with is that Za Ikenie 2 aka Captured for Sex 2 was among the handful of pink films bootlegged by Video Search of Miami and as such one of the few pink films available with English subtitles for a long time.

HungFist wrote:Captured for Sex 2 (Japan, 1986) [VoD] - 1/5A young couple's car breaks down in the middle of a forest. A nice man comes for rescue and takes them to his house, but for this being a pink production he of course turns out to be a manic kidnapper with a taste for sexual torture. This is a minor cult classic of sorts, for reasons that go beyond my understanding. It's little more than a violent porn film with non-existent cinematic merits, a sort of sexual version of the Guinea Pig series but without the humour, scares, or the special effects. It does , however, sport a somehow nostalgic 1980s smut feel to it. That doesn't help much when the film is an utter bore. Released in Nikkatsu's Roman X series, which was a short lived hardcore spin-off of the Roman Porno series.

Is there any sort of appreciation for this film in Japan or did you mean it's a "cult classic" only among Western pink fans? The film is shit, just like all the other Roman X efforts from the director collective working as "Gou Ijuin": Za Ikenie, Za SM, Za Goumon... Unfortunately I once thought the painted covers (same artist who also did the poster for Yoshihiro Kawasaki's Binzume Jigoku (1986) I think) on the VHS tapes looked promising and bought a couple of them which lead to some serious self-loathiung when I sat down to watch them. I think the only part of all of them I enjoyed was a scene in which a naked women is tied to the roof of a car and driven through some side streets, to the baffled looks of pedestrians. The only explanation for any kind of "cult" status I can come up with is that Za Ikenie 2 aka Captured for Sex 2 was among the handful of pink films bootlegged by Video Search of Miami and as such one of the few pink films available with English subtitles for a long time.

I was talking about Western viewers. There seems to be a bunch of people on the internet + Weisser's nonsense book (this time he probably has even seen the movie ) that are praising it.

I completely agree with everything you said. The artworks are fantastic, but the films...

Pink Curtain (Japan, 1982) [DVD] - 2/5Here's an interesting but ultimately underwhelming attempt at trendy roman porno drama. The catch is a brother falling in love with his sister who moves in with him into a small Tokyo apartment. Unfortunately the scenario doesn't really go anywhere as the film spends way too much time on sub-plots involving third party characters and packs an overload of sex scenes - a typical pink film symptom. That being said, the stars (Jun Miho and Masahiko Abe) have some chemistry despite the performances not being award-worthy by any means, and director Yasuaki Uegaki includes occasional energetic moments camera movements, pop music and manga influences. But in the end, it feels more like a pink film with some potential buried underneath it than the other way round. It's by no means a match for Koyu Ohara's Pink Hip Girl (1978), which could be a comparison point of sorts.

Pink Curtain 2 (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 2/5The second film in the series follows the exact same formula as the first. Again there's a potentially interesting storyline about a sister and brother buried under a bucketful of less interesting sub-plots and third party sex scenes. And like last time, director Yasuaki Uegaki again has his moments, especially towards the end. One gets the feeling that this series could be much better if it focused on the right things.

Pink Curtain 3 (Japan, 1983) [VoD] - 1.5/5The final film in the series and the storyline still doesn't go anywhere. Like its predecessors, the film has a couple of cute and pop moments, but most of the time is wasted on dull sub-plots. It's not a downright terrible movie, but it's hard to get excited about it. The ending is stylish, though.

Love Bandit Rat Man (Japan, 1972) [DVD] - 2/5A poor house servant becomes a sex thief in Chusei Sone's period film, which is a sexploitation version of a popular Japanese Robin Hood tale. It's not too bad a film, but it's hardly an exhilarating one. The flashback structure, in which the captured thief tells his story while being tortured, works pretty well, the production values are fine, and there are some imaginative sequences, such as one that is made to look like black & white 8mm film, but none of it stands out as being especially exciting. In the end it's more of a case of "not bad for Roman Porno" than a genuinely good movie. Sone had much more success in the period movie genre later the same year with the very funny and cute Secret Chronicle: Prostitute Market.

Fallen Angels Gang (Japan, 1981) [VoD] - 1/5This yakuza/action/Roman Porno hybrid predates Wives of the Yakuza by five years. It's about a yakuza wife and her two step daughters who swear to avenge the death of a gangster. Unfortunately it's a pretty miserable film packed with pink actresses trying act tough - and failing. There's a little bit of poorly executed action, boring sex, and an uninvolving storyline that takes 91 minutes to reach its conclusion.

Erotic Liaisons (Japan, 1978) [VoD] - 3.5/5Here's a very stylish neo-noir based on a novel by the French author Raymond Marlot, produced during the late 1970s when Roman Porno attempted to bridge the gap between mainstream and pink cinema. Cult actor / rock star Yuya Uchida stars as a private detective who falls in love with the woman he's hired to follow. Big mistake! It turns out the woman is surrounded by small time gangsters and she's got a plan on how to get rich. The film's storyline and atmosphere are so strikingly European (save for the main character, who is modelled after American film noir heroes) that the viewer constantly forgets the film is set in Tokyo and not Paris. Sex is tastefully integrated into the story, the film sports strong female characters, and there's some wonderfully dry humour. If it wasn't for some carelessly handled plot twists that needed more exposition to work, the film would be even better. Koji Wakamatsu remade the film in 1990, with Uchida starring again. This original film was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe.

Lusty Sisters (Japan, 1972) [DVD] - 2/5 A passable, but not especially interesting early Roman Porno drama about alienation and social unfits. It follows three sisters, one of which is an office lady, the other a high school delinquent and the third a tavern hostess. The movie has its moments, and it's not overly sleazy save for a few rapes, but director Chusei Sone dealt with a similar theme with more style in Modern Prostitution: Lust Under Uniform (1974). Another comparison point would be the films of Tatsumi Kumashiro.

Wet Lust (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 2/5The first Roman Porno film by Tatsumi Kumashiro, sometimes considered the most consistently great Japanese director of all time. Like many of his 1970s films, this one is a realistic sex packed drama about troubled young adults. The story follows a young man who decides to run away with a prostitute. It should be a good film for fans of Kumashiro; personally I've never been too keen on his low key and somewhat anti-stylized approach which focuses on dislikeable real-life losers (although fictive) and throws in a large amount of sex. I prefer his most atypical movies, such as the jaw dropping rock-sleaze piece Rolling on the Road (Oh Women! A Dirty Song) (1981).

August: Scent of Eros (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 3/5In the Roman Porno genre the first 5-10 minutes typically a very strong indicator on whether the director has what it takes to make an interesting film. This movie by Toshiya Fujita is an exception. It takes a good while to get moving, which some pretty lame character drama early on. However, once the film relocates to a beach setting and turns into a youth film, the quality goes up. The storyline is about a jewellery shop seller who becomes obsessed with tracking down a teenage thug who robbed her. She follows him to a seaside town where he's hanging out with some kind of youth gang. This is the kind of material that Fujita really excels with: 1970s youngsters, outlaws and hippies..

Sanctuary in the Night (Japan, 1973) [VoD] - 2/5An unusual premise for a Roman Porno: a fugitive with a bullet in his stomach gets taken in by a small time girl gang. Unfortunately the film isn't half as great as it sound like. Director Keiichi Ozawa was a famed Nikkatsu action specialist, but he helms this movie like a b-grade American grindhouse action flick. It's entertaining in places with a car chase and bloody shootouts - especially the climax where the antihero grabs a machine gun to fight the police - but it's incoherent, relatively nonsensical and not especially stylish.

Gypsy Rose: A Docu-Drama (Japan, 1974) [VoD] - 2.5/5Shogoro Nishimura was one of those acclaimed yakuza film directors who got dragged into Roman Porno when the studio made the switch. He eventually seemed to lose all his passion and talent when he was churning out one pink film after another. Some of his early work in the genre, such as this, however, show ambition. This is a true story of a half-blooded girl who made her name as an exotic stripper before flushing her life down the toilet and turning into an alcoholic. It's not a bad film, in fact, it's even gripping at times, and resembles the type of true account yakuza films Toei was making at the time. It just features strippers and sex instead of yakuzas and violence, and the execution isn't on par with Toei's gangster films.

Love Daydream (Japan, 1980) [VoD] - 2/5A cute but mentally disturbed girl becomes insanely jealous of her father's new lover and decides to destroy her life. This is an odd mixture of early 70s style Nikkatsu youth cinema with yachts and beaches, psycho drama, and roman porno. It has its moments, but it doesn't quite convince as a serious movie. It's also a starring vehicle for pop star Yoko Hatanaka, whose brief mainstream popularity (since 1978) had already expired. She recorded a wonderful theme song 'Front the Front, From the Back' for this film. The same song was re-used in another film later the same year, titled 'Front the Front, From the Back. Koyu Ohara direced both.

From the Front, From the Back (Japan, 1980) [VoD] - 2/5Biker gangs and bad girls in the night. This project was most likely inspired by Sogo Ishii's biker classic Crazy Thunder Road, which came out earlier the same year. Make no mistake, though, this film would've been made anyway since it's yet another starring vehicle for pop star Yoko Hatanaka, but it would probably have looked a bit different without Ishii's influence. Like with many other Koyu Ohara films, one gets the feeling it could be much better had the director bothered to put more effort into it. All of his movies feature good scenes, but few can retain the high level throughout the film. This one has some nice biker scenes and music, but the storyline and characters are pretty worthless, not to mention some dull sex scenes.

Jealousy Game (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 3.5/5Mainstream director Yoichi Higashi ended up in the Roman Porno catalogue via co-productions. This relationship study could've been an Art Theatre Guild film just as well, and features less sex than many mainstream films. It's a about a couple on a motorcycle trip in Hokkaido. After a heated argument the wife hitches a ride with another guy who has just been left by his manipulative young girlfriend. The husband then picks up this girl without realizing what he's getting into. It's a very well acted movie with good characters. Both leads are made somewhat passive victims of the circumstances to avoid the usual simplistic jealousy/revenge clichés, and the title refers mainly to the supporting characters. But the film's real identity is as a road movie: almost the entire film is spend riding through the highways of Hokkaido on a Harley Davidson. Only if the screenplay didn't rely so much on chance - some of the dramatic encounters are completely against odds - the film would be even better.

HungFist wrote:It should be a good film for fans of Kumashiro; personally I've never been too keen on his low key and somewhat anti-stylized approach which focuses on dislikeable real-life losers (although fictive) and throws in a large amount of sex. I prefer his most atypical movies, such as the jaw dropping rock-sleaze piece Rolling on the Road (Oh Women! A Dirty Song) (1981).

I haven't seen that one and am generally just not into Kumashiro's work. Of the films of his I have seen, the only one I loved was WOODS ARE WET (1973). Unfortunately, its oddbally self-censorship (Kumashiro added giant black geometric shapes - squares, triangels etc. - over the sex scenes as a fuck you to the Japanese censors) will probably keep it from getting an official release with English subtitles.

HungFist wrote:It should be a good film for fans of Kumashiro; personally I've never been too keen on his low key and somewhat anti-stylized approach which focuses on dislikeable real-life losers (although fictive) and throws in a large amount of sex. I prefer his most atypical movies, such as the jaw dropping rock-sleaze piece Rolling on the Road (Oh Women! A Dirty Song) (1981).

I haven't seen that one and am generally just not into Kumashiro's work. Of the films of his I have seen, the only one I loved was WOODS ARE WET (1973). Unfortunately, its oddbally self-censorship (Kumashiro added giant black geometric shapes - squares, triangels etc. - over the sex scenes as a fuck you to the Japanese censors) will probably keep it from getting an official release with English subtitles.

Have you seen Rolling on the Road (Oh Women! A Dirty Song)? That's one my favourite Roman Porno films of all time.

Another Kumashiro film I really like is Painful Bliss! Final Twist.

Cinema Vera is actually having a Tatsumi Kumashiro retrospective next month. I think I will drop by, because Shin Bungeiza is having Bunta Sugawara retro at the same time, but I need to choose between Kumashiro double Failed Youth (1974) (no. 21 on Kinema Junpo's all time best Japanese films) & Street of Joy (1974) or Sugawara double The Boxer (1977) & Kuroi dress no onna (1987). I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy the Sugawara films more, but Failed Youth is impossible to see at home (no dvd release or VoD)... (they're not on the same day... one's on Friday and the other on Tuesday, but I can't stay that long. Need to cut one day either from the beginning or the end...)

HungFist wrote:Have you seen Rolling on the Road (Oh Women! A Dirty Song)? That's one my favourite Roman Porno films of all time.

Haven't seen it but I'll check it out when I get the chance.

Pioneer released it on R2J back in 2002, but that release is OOP and ridiculously difficult to obtain. I'd buy it immediately if I could. Used copies are available at Amazon for 38 000 yen...

The film is a jaw dropping rock n roll sleze fest. It stars Uchida as himself -an asshole rocker who is fucking everything that moves, including his own life. And when he's not fucking, he's puncking random people in the face on the street or fighting with the audience. Awesome performance by Uchida, lots of great rock music, some amazing sex scenes (Uchida's girlfriend strangling him with telephone cord during sex while his other girlfriend is crying at the other end of the line) - all very professionally handled by Kumashiro. And Rikiya Yasuoka is just great as Uchida's manager!

Female Teacher: Private Life (Japan, 1973) [VoD] - 2/5The title says it all. This is a rather dated sex melodrama, and one of Noboru Tanaka's first films. It's about a high school teacher who is in a relationship with a young student boy. There's a wonderful scene, in which a nervous boy takes her female classmate to his home, that really echoes Tanaka's talent that later made him possibly Nikkatsu's best director. Otherwise the film is quite underwhelming and suffers from excessive visual censorship.

Kurutta seiyokusha: Shufu o osou! (Japan, 1979) [VoD] - 2.5/5This small budget serial rapist thriller was produced by an independent company but released in the Roman Porno series. It's a surprisingly mean, and in parts energetic, grindhouse type film following a rapist just released from prison and trying to fight his animalistic raping desires. It's an interesting b-movie premise, and at times the execution is thrilling, especially the aggressive use of horror movie -like music and some glorious "evil acting". Ultimately, however, the film struggles to keep the level up between the highlights. Furthermore, all of the film's actresses are oddly unattractive. Nevertheless, the film packs more punch that many of Nikatsu's bigger budgeted in-house productions and certainly has its trash appeal. Violent pink fans may want to take a look.

Seiko's Juicy Thighs: Zoom Up (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 2/5Leave it up to Koyu Ohara to deliver an upskirt-photography-love-story-showbiz-parody. Shy loser Toshihiko is obsessed with cute college girl Seiko and keeps snapping panty shots of her (he imagines that will somehow make her fall in love with him). This is yet another silly pop cinema romp by Ohara. It's kinda cute a times and uses pop music frequently, but the screenplay is pretty worthless and there's loads on boring sex scenes that Ohara doesn't put any effort into. The lead characters are named after two popular singers, Toshiro Tahara and Seiko, who were rumoured to be dating at the time.

Young Girls' Holding Cell (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 2.5/5Director Yoshihiro Kawasaki and writer Takuya Nishioka must have been proud of themselves when they came up with an idea to combine high school girls and women in prison movies. The winning idea was to disregard all logic and make a high school flick where the teachers act just like evil prison guards. There are even cells reserved for bad students - indeed, the film was probably shot in the left-over sets of an earlier WiP movie. It's a silly film, but a relatively entertaining one. The prison stuff only lasts for a while, after that it turns into an early 80s idol film derivative with added sex. Not too different from some of Koyu Ohara's films. Stars Jun Miho, who was Nikkatsu's cutest actress, but needed a good director to get the best out of her. Here she doesn't get one. Kawasaki is more keen on the audio-visual delivery.

Girl and the Wooden Horse Torture (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 3.5/5Between 1974 and 1988 Nikkatsu produced nearly 40 adaptations from SM author Oniroku Dan's novels. Most of them were intellectually underwhelming, morally questionable, and tiresome at best. But what would happen if one of the best Japanese screenwriters of the 1980s, Takashi Ishii, adapted a Dan novel and handed it to first time director Fumihiko Kato, who later became known for his atypical Dan films?

Despite the misleading title, this movie bears all the trademarks of Ishii's psychological erotic thrillers and could be an SM-oriented entry in the Angel Guts series. The protagonists are Nami and Muraki: a bullied high school girl and her terminally ill teacher. The opening scene sees Nami saved from violent delinquents by her teacher, who however then collapses in front of her. She leaves him there. The experience haunts her in her dreams, which begin to merge with reality. Years later they meet again after Muraki has been fired and has hit the rock bottom. The film never loses its psychological tension, even though the prolonged SM finale - and a few other bits - may be a bit much for the casual viewers. The overly simplistic Oniroku Dan conventions are nowhere to be found. The film also looks pretty good with the usual urban and occasionally surreal Ishii imagery.

Gemini Woman (Japan, 1984) [VoD] - 1/5The late 1970s saw the end of Japanese action and exploitation cinema as it had existed until then. The studio system that had been churning out cheap but enjoyable trash came to an end, and studios begun to focus on dramas and more expensive productions. Many of them were geared at female audiences. Nikkatsu was the only major studio that still kept making shameless exploitation, but even they were affected. Gemini Woman is a case in point. Take the roman porno genre, extend the running time to 91 min, add television drama level human relationship story with some kind of suspense element, deduct anything that might be interesting, and then pretend it's serious cinema. Zzzzz.

Female Leopard (Japan, 1985) [VoD] - 1.5/5This was intended as some sort of super-charged erotic mystery. A rich student girl returns from USA to her gorgeous family mansion in Japan and discovers her beloved brother is secretly organizing Eyes Wide Shut style orgies, 80s style. Director Koyu Ohara manages a couple of stylish scenes with slow motion and cool music, but otherwise this is little more than an overdose of the worst 80s Japanese aesthetics. Expect lots of suits, masks and immoral rich people. Despite it being a mystery thriller, there is very little mystery to it.

Exotic Mask in Hell (Japan, 1988) [VoD] - 3/5Here's a surprisingly good and atmospheric late Roman Porno. It's based on a Oniroku Dan SM novel, but directed by Fumihiko Kato who is known for atypical Dan adaptations. The film follows a young woman who travels to a small village in the mountains only to discover something strange is going on. Director Kato seems to be influenced by traditional Japanese horror tales and even occult horror movies. He makes a good use of beautiful images, including sunsets, cherry trees, and devilish masks. Unfortunately when the bondage begins the film takes a few steps back in style and originality. Still, it's much better than most films of its kind and can be recommended even to non-genre fans to some extent.

Apartment Wife: Affair in the Afternoon (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 1.5/5The first film in the roman porno series, which continued until 1988 and produced more than 1100 movies. Yakuza film director Shogoro Nishimura was assigned to steer Nikkatsu to new waters. Based on box office, he did fine job. This movie is a dated sex drama focusing on the afternoon (and night time) adventures of a sexually frustrated housewife. As it was intended as an exploitative exploration of the normal Japanese people's sex lives, it probably had more to offer to the Japanese 1970s audiences than modern viewers. Frankly, the film has little going for it other than the curiosity value.

Mr. Dilemman: Lunatic for Lust (Japan, 1979) [VoD] - 2/5 A pretty harmless piece of absurdist Roman Porno superhero comedy by Masaru Konuma. The film follows a normal salary man who's having a bad day: first he's ignored by his wife, then his cock slips into a nun's mouth by accident in the train, and finally he is attacked by a kung fu fighter. He then sees a street advertisement for Superman and decides to become a superhero. He wears a mask, dresses in stockings, rides bicycle, and fights evil corporate bosses. The film features some gloriously off-the-wall comedy moments, but in the end its dragged down by excessive sex and uneven execution. Still, it should find its fans.

Woman's Trail: Wet Path (Japan, 1980) [VoD] - 3.5/5A good example of the late 1970s Roman Porno movement which, for a few years, tried to push part of the genre to the mainstream market. This film is a melancholic road movie following a man (slightly chubby singer/songwriter Kan Mikami) wandering around snowy seaside towns after failing to "save" his stripper girlfriend from her husband. It's a slowly paced movie with quiet performances, beautiful score and a lyrical sense of time passing as the landscapes roll in the background. The film is also notable for how the characters are very normal looking, often middle aged people, as opposed to typical movie heroes and beauties. The low key approach does make it a bit less spectacular than some other movies in the genre, and it could certainly use a better ending, but it's a good film; very much a slow-burner.

Mijukuna kahanshin (Japan, 1984) [VoD] - 1/5Director Nobuyuki Saito's second movie, Woman of the Afternoon: Incite! (1979), was a stylish genre blender and a minor cult classic. Somehow, almost nothing he ever did after that seemed to come even close to it. This is a very sweet romantic comedy about a high school girl and her boyfriend who is struggling to get it up. Unfortunately it's directed without any kind of energy, originality or style. Lead girl Kotomi Aoki has a cute face, but isn't much of an actress.

Akai Campus: Kurutta hokago (1984) [VoD] - 1/5Violent macho man acting like an asshole at home becomes a bullied wimp at work when his delinquent students make his life hell. What does he learn? Nothing! Throw in tons of sex, deduct all style, and call it a movie. What was director Koyu Ohara thinking?

Last Cabaret (Japan, 1988) [VoD] - 2/5This was one of the last roman porno films and was intended as an allegory for the studio's demise. The storyline is about the last days of a cabaret that is forced to close down. It's not a terrible film but there isn't anything special about it either, the allegory aside. It resembles mainstream 1980s dramas for the most part, which isn't necessarily a positive thing. Furthermore, the film's female lead Miyuki Kato, who spends half of the movie in a high school uniform, looks disturbingly young. She was 19 at the time, but had the face of a 15 year old. She 's cute as buttons and would've been perfect for an idol film, but in a Nikkatsu flick she makes the audience (hopefully) feel a bit uneasy. Nothing new for director Shusuke Kaneko (Death Note), whose early films often featured lolita characters.

I'm in total agreement regarding Exotic Mask in Hell. It's a great little film and one I've been rooting to get a DVD release ever since I saw it on VHS a decade ago. I especially enjoyed the parts where it briefly turned into a horror/slasher movie. Definitely a standout among the films based on Dan Oniroku's many, many books.

Female Leopard is also a title I remember really enjoying. Could be the fact that it was one of the first pink films I ever saw and so the clichees you mention may have seemed fresh at the time. I think there's also an empty-handed handjob (or blowjob?) in the film that's quite hysterical and had me wonder if they forgot to add the fogging to hide the absence of dick.

Gemini Woman (DVD) and Girl in the Wooden Horse Torture (VHS) are both on my shelf but I haven't watched either yet. At least now I know which one I probably should prioritize.

Guro Taku wrote:I'm in total agreement regarding Exotic Mask in Hell. It's a great little film and one I've been rooting to get a DVD release ever since I saw it on VHS a decade ago. I especially enjoyed the parts where it briefly turned into a horror/slasher movie. Definitely a standout among the films based on Dan Oniroku's many, many books.

Guro Taku wrote:Female Leopard is also a title I remember really enjoying. Could be the fact that it was one of the first pink films I ever saw and so the clichees you mention may have seemed fresh at the time. I think there's also an empty-handed handjob (or blowjob?) in the film that's quite hysterical and had me wonder if they forgot to add the fogging to hide the absence of dick.

Well, you have to keep in mind I hate most films that feature a lot of sex

HungFist wrote:Basically, there's a Japanese DVD release... which however is difficult to obtain and probably no better than a VHS (it came out in 2012 in "CPDM MOD DVDR Collection" and is listed as non-anamorphic, too).

Yeah, those... I watched one of them (Slave Wife by Akira Kato) and it actually had worse picture quality than my VHS. I suspect they took the VOD files and burned them to DVD-Rs. Acceptable for films that never had a home video release and even welcome in those cases because Japanese VOD sites are very much against accepting money from people without Japanese bank accounts but as an upgrade from VHS they're worthless.

HungFist wrote:Well, you have to keep in mind I hate most films that feature a lot of sex

It's a perfectly normal reaction to watching a lot of pink films. Once I was averaging two or three pink films a day and I started to fast-forward through the rumpy pumpy stuff as it put me to sleep.

So, I was trying to rent White Rose Campus: And Then Everybody Gets Raped DVD from Geo's web/home delively rental, and I got a message that my credit card company does not approve this title. I checked the help page and there it is: Visa/Mastercard have forbidded them to rent certain R18 titles to customers using Visa or Mastercard. White Rose Campus is banned, the Female Teacher series also seemed to be banned too, and who knows what else. Great! Haven't felt this good in a while.